Scotland’s farmers and crofters urged to sign
up for free farmland bird survey
RSPB Scotland is inviting farmers and crofters across
the country to learn more about what birds are on their land, courtesy
of a free, confidential, no-string attached survey.
Modern practices push farmland birds to brink of extinction
Previously common farmland birds such as the corncrake,
curlew and yellowhammer are now perilously close to extinction in
Ireland, according to a four-year study of the island’s bird
populations.
After an absence of 200 years as a breeding species
in Ireland, Red Kites are once again a familiar sight in parts of
the east coast, thanks to the success of the Irish Red Kite Reintroduction
Project.
Starlings have been flocking from all over England
and northern Europe to Lower Moor Farm Nature Reserve near Malmesbury,
with spectacular aerial displays every evening.
The Ulster Wildlife Trust has raised a complaint
with the European Commission over fears that the Northern Ireland
Assembly are not protecting Stangford Lough to their full obligation.
'Bicycle pump' to turn wave power into clean energy
An aquatic "bicycle pump" is set to take
to the seas and turn wave power into clean electricity after being
acquired by green energy company Ecotricity.
First UK marine energy park to be built in south
west
Britain's first marine energy park will be developed
in the south west of the country, in a bid to speed up the commercial
expansion of the wave and tidal industry from 2020, the UK government
said on Monday.
Pressure is mounting on the Government to follow
its Spanish counterpart and ban Chinese lanterns amid fears their
release poses a fire risk, damages the environment and harms wildlife.
I thought it would be helpful to have a look at the
sort of legal problems individuals and campaign groups are likely
to have to face in challenging decisions taken by public bodies,
such as local authorities.
The Tump is the roundest, plumpest field on the farm.
It forms the horizon line from the house, but when you mount it
the views open both up and down the valley.
The fate of hundreds of thousands of migrating birds
and the environment are hanging in the balance as the future of
a possible airport on the Thames estuary is argued over by the London
Mayor and the Prime Minister
Urgent action needed to prevent England's rivers
drying up
Britain's rivers are drying up. Unless emergency
measures are adopted, some of our finest waterways could be reduced
to trickles over the next few decades.
Scientists find new world that's heaven for spiders,
hell for ants
Large hairy spiders whose front resembles the intimidating
grille of a Hummer. Ant spiders who mimic ants, look like ants, live
with ants and, when they get hungry, eat ants
How the rise of the megacity is changing the way we
live
Amid a clutter of 24-hour arc lights, gigantic cranes
and dumper trucks, a behemoth is rising out of a field of churned
mud on the outskirts of Chengdu in south-west China.
On November 6, 2011, Bill McKibben arrived at Washington,
D.C.’s, Lafayette Park to protest the proposed Keystone XL pipeline,
designed to carry oil 1,700 miles from Alberta, Canada, to refineries
on the Gulf of Mexico.
Experts say the drought in Texas may jeopardize the
already endangered whooping crane population, making a reintroduction
program in Wisconsin crucial.
A recent study led by the Wild Bird Society of Japan
(BirdLife Partner) has found that the Izu Islands, on the Pacific
side of Japan, hold the second largest concentration of the threatened
Japanese Murrelet Synthliboramphus wumizusume (Vulnerable).
Tony Long, director of the World Wildlife Fund’s
European Policy Office, spoke recently to Kathimerini about the impact
of Greece’s austerity measures on its environmental policy ...
Italy risks worst environmental disaster in 20 years
Italy risks its worst environmental disaster in more
than two decades if the 2,400 tonnes of thick fuel in the capsized
Costa Concordia pollutes one of the Mediterranean's most prized and
pristine maritime reserves.
Anti-whaling campaigners and the crew of a Japanese
whaling ship have had a violent clash at sea, with the activists hurling
containers of rotten butter and paint and getting sticks and teargas
in return.
The challenges of conserving the world's species against
their rapid decline are perhaps even larger than mitigating the negative
effects of global climate change, scientists said.
Ocean acidity rise unprecedented in past 21,000 years
Carbon dioxide emissions caused by human activities
over the last century have increased the acidity of the world’s
oceans far beyond the range of natural variations, which may significantly
impair the ability of marine organisms such as corals and mollusks
to form their skeletons or shells, a new study says.
British scientists have discovered an enormous dome
of fresh water in the western Arctic Ocean. They think it may result
from strong Arctic winds accelerating a great clockwise ocean circulation
called the Beaufort Gyre, causing the sea surface to bulge upwards.
Researchers claim to have solved the 'missing energy'
discrepancy between atmospheric and ocean temperature measurements,
while at the same time showing that the Earth continued to accumulate
heat during the last decade.
A weaker sun over the next 90 years is not likely
to significantly delay a rise in global temperature caused by greenhouse
gases, a report said Monday.
Cornell University researchers on Thursday defended
their conclusion in a study last year that drew heavy criticism
for its finding that shale gas development produces more greenhouse
gases than coal.
Higher EU CO2 cut ‘fundamental’ to developing
world
An increase in the EU’s carbon emissions reduction
target to 30% on 1990 levels within eight years is ‘very fundamental’
to the developing world’s interests, said the European chair
of the G77 group of developing nations.
Climate scientists back call for sceptic thinktank
to reveal backers
Leading climate scientists have given their support
to a Freedom of Information request seeking to disclose who is funding
the Global Warming Policy Foundation, a London-based climate sceptic
thinktank chaired by the former Conservative chancellor Lord Lawson.
New ways of farming ‘could slow bad effects
of climate change’
The worldwide adoption of new, "sustainable"
ways of farming could arrest the negative effects of climate change
and population growth on food security, and protect farmers’
income, according to a paper in the journal Science on
Friday.
Climate change sceptic Bjorn Lomborg: 'I'm the victim'
The much-criticised author and climate policy sceptic
Bjorn Lomborg has told the Ecologist he is the victim of a vendetta
after his funding was cut by the Danish government.
Kiribati leader urges release of climate adaptation
funds
The newly-elected president of Kiribati, says the
international community is making progress, but countries vulnerable
to climate change need adaptation funds as soon as possible.
